If you had 2-3 years to set aside for schooling, which health programs would you consider?

[Anonymous]

Have a fairly worthless bachelor's degree and have been at home with my children for 7 years. Not really very employable right now. Am feeling some regret/panic for a wide variety of reasons and need a plan.

I've been aiming for a more serious and lengthy program, however, am finding myself in the position of needing to complete something and be employable much more quickly.

Prerequisites not a problem. Am eyeing careers like Occupational Therapy, Speech Language Pathology, etc. Any insight?

[Anonymous]

I'd do what interests you. And in most health related fields, you are going to need to have a decent number of anatomy/physiology/chemistry/biology classes before starting a Masters in those fields (a Masters is required for PT/OT/ST.)

[Anonymous]

Right. Was looking for personal insight beyond what interests me, but thank you.

Yes -- I said prerequisites not a problem as I have already completedly all of those courses with a high GPA. I had been planning on applying to medical school.

[Anonymous]

Oops. Should have proofread, apparently. Sorry about that.

[Anonymous]

Would you consider becoming a physician's assistant or nurse practitioner? Or even an RN? Huge demand for all those, and no sign of that letting up.

[Anonymous]

I would do something like SLP. If your kids are still at home, you can work in a school district and get summers off. It is a TON of paperwork though so if you don't like that, skip it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would you consider becoming a physician's assistant or nurse practitioner? Or even an RN? Huge demand for all those, and no sign of that letting up.

Yes, considering PA especially. Nursing salary seems far lower than the others and the path to NP vs PA does not seem worthwhile with a bachelors degree already. PA is a far more direct path.

Paperwork doesn't bother me. Nice point about SLP in a local district.

[Anonymous]

I would choose OT. As a teacher, I took a workshop about fine motor skills and recognizing children who needed therapy; just hearing about all of the muscles in the hand and how they work together to help a child learn to write was fascinating. OT's also made a huge difference in my mother's life, after she suffered a stroke. You could work with people of whatever age you choose, in a variety of settings. I think it would be a very rewarding profession.

[Anonymous]

I think being a ST or an OT would be great. My sister is a ST in the schools and loves her job. She gets to work with kids 1-on-1 and in small groups. If I were 18 again, that is the path I would take. It's a great job for a mom with tons of flexibility and options.

[Anonymous]

A colleagues's wife who is a nursing anesthetist apparently makes $200k. Perhaps of interest!

[Anonymous]

I went back to school for my MSW after 10 years in another career and am now working as a therapist. I find it to be very interesting, but the pay is terrible (I make 40K and that salary is unlikely to go up unless I go into private practice).

[Anonymous]

PA here. extremely satisfying. family friendly hours--lots of part time work and decent pay. but be prepared for very intense work with lots of responsiblity. schooling super hard--i don't think i could have done it if i had kids, already. maybe PT/OT/ST is a little easier, but not sure.

[Anonymous]

Though you planned on attending medical school, you likely haven't completed the prerequisites for SLP. These include courses such as phonetics, Speech and Sound Science, Audiology, etc. They take a year to complete generally. Some schools have 3 year programs that include the prerequisite courses in year 1.

[Anonymous]

I would look into the Physicians Assistant program at GWU.

[Anonymous]

I'm an slp and I agree with the poster who said you likely haven't taken the pre-requisites. I hadn't either and found a program that let me do them plus the degree in two years and three summers. I work in schools and love my job and the flexibility with kids. It's a ton of paperwork though (which I actually like) and the caseload size and paperwork load often makes me feel like I don't have enough time to spend on what matters most-the actual therapy. If you're science inclined, I might suggest OT. They typically see kids more on a one on one setting an usually get paid more. I think it's a really interesting profession havin worked with many. Plus, your pre-med classes might transfer better.